Is Adderall legal in Japan?

Also known as: addy, amphetamine salts

Legal status

Adderall is controlled in Japan as a 覚醒剤, a stimulant, under the Stimulants Control Act, because of what it contains. 第二条第一項 opens 「この法律で「覚醒剤」とは、次に掲げる物をいう。」 and the entry is 「フエニルアミノプロパン、フエニルメチルアミノプロパン及び各その塩類」 at 覚醒剤取締法第二条第一項第一号, and 第二条第一項第三号 adds 「前二号に掲げる物のいずれかを含有する物」, anything containing the substances in the first two items. Adderall is a mixture of amphetamine salts, so the tablet is a 覚醒剤 in its own right, not a medicine that happens to contain one. The position is as at 2 October 2026 on e-Gov. It is in neither the narcotics tables status 6 September 2026 nor the psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025, and the pharmaceuticals Act's 第二条第十五項 keeps 覚醒剤 out of the designated substances list status 6 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No Japanese drug statute provides a death sentence: 死刑 appears in the main provisions of none of the 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法 (the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act), the 覚醒剤取締法 (the Stimulants Control Act), the あへん法 (the Opium Act), the 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律 (the Cannabis Plant Cultivation Act), the pharmaceuticals Act (the PMD Act) or the 麻薬特例法 (the Narcotics Special Provisions Act), each read on e-Gov on 2 October 2026. Japan has not abolished capital punishment: 刑法第九条 lists it among the principal punishments, 「死刑、拘禁刑、罰金、拘留及び科料を主刑とし、没収を付加刑とする。」, and 第百九十九条 provides it for murder. Every penalty below reads 拘禁刑, the single form of imprisonment that replaced 懲役 and 禁錮 on the day described in the ministerial ordinance's own words as 「刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行の日（令和七年六月一日）」, 1 June 2025; under 刑法第十二条第一項 「有期拘禁刑は、一月以上二十年以下とする。」, so an open ended fixed term such as one year or more runs to twenty years, and 第十四条第二項 allows an aggravated fixed term to rise to thirty. The drug statutes took the new term from 令和四年法律第六十八号. Life imprisonment appears in the drug statutes in three places only: 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十四条第二項 (heroin imported, exported or made for profit), 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第二項 (stimulants imported, exported or made for profit) and 麻薬特例法第五条 (dealing in any 規制薬物 as a business). Importing, exporting or manufacturing a 覚醒剤 is 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第一項, 「覚醒剤を、みだりに、本邦若しくは外国に輸入し、本邦若しくは外国から輸出し、又は製造した者（第四十一条の五第一項第二号に該当する者を除く。）は、一年以上の有期拘禁刑に処する。」 For profit 第四十一条第二項 gives 「営利の目的で前項の罪を犯した者は、無期若しくは三年以上の拘禁刑に処し、又は情状により無期若しくは三年以上の拘禁刑及び一千万円以下の罰金に処する。」, life or at least three years, with a fine of up to ten million yen added where the circumstances warrant. Possessing, transferring or receiving it is 第四十一条の二第一項, 「覚醒剤を、みだりに、所持し、譲り渡し、又は譲り受けた者（第四十二条第五号に該当する者を除く。）は、十年以下の拘禁刑に処する。」, and using it in breach of 第十九条 is 第四十一条の三第一項第一号, also up to ten years. The profit forms are at least one year with a fine of up to five million yen where the circumstances warrant, and attempts are punished. There is no quantity threshold, so possessing a single Adderall tablet is the ten year offence. Making a business of it is lifted further by 麻薬特例法第五条, whose 第四号 reaches the 覚醒剤 import, export, manufacture and transfer offences in 第四十一条 and 第四十一条の二 (possession excluded), and whose penalty is 「無期又は五年以上の拘禁刑及び千万円以下の罰金に処する。」 That is life or at least five years and, cumulatively, a fine of up to ten million yen.

If prescribed or medical

Adderall has no route open to a visitor. 覚醒剤取締法第十四条第一項 lets only manufacturers, designated 覚醒剤施用機関 and their doctors, researchers and the patients those doctors treat possess a 覚醒剤, and 第十九条 confines use the same way. A foreign prescription is not a prescription from a 覚醒剤施用機関 and gives no Japanese authority. An ADHD prescription from abroad makes no difference.

Documentation

A foreign prescription does not make Adderall importable, and an individual traveller cannot bring it into Japan at all, in any quantity and with any document. 覚醒剤取締法第十三条 reads 「何人も、覚醒剤を輸入し、又は輸出してはならない。」, with no traveller exception of the kind the narcotics Act has. The Narcotics Control Department lists «Methamphetamine and Amphetamine(INN:Dexamphetamine, Levamfetamine)» among the substances no individual traveller can import or export even if prescribed. The department's FAQ answers the question directly: «Can I bring ADDERALL (*approved in the US, for ADHD treatment) into Japan? No», because amphetamine «cannot be imported into Japan, even for treatment purposes.» The contrast is lisdexamfetamine: it is a 覚醒剤原料, not a 覚醒剤, under the stimulant raw material Cabinet Order, 「二・六―ジアミノ―Ｎ―（一―フェニルプロパン―二―イル）ヘキサンアミド、その塩類及びこれらのいずれかを含有する物」, so a traveller can bring it with advance permission under 第三十条の六第一項. Placement relied on: 覚醒剤取締法第二条第一項第一号 as at 2 October 2026 on e-Gov; the stimulant list is in the Act itself and is not part of the MHLW narcotics or psychotropics status tables.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Japan’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.